Dormancy of potato varieties varies widely and is governed by genetic factors and also by multiple physiological and environmental factors during crop growth and storage. Break of dormancy causes sprouting and concomitant detrimental quality changes including changes in carbohydrate metabolism and additional weight loss. A knowledge of the expected dormancy period of a variety can provide options for storage, for example to appropriately time sprout interventions for long term storage or likely sale periods. However the availability of independent data on dormancy scores for commonly grown varieties is both sparse and conflicting. The conflicts are very likely to be due to variations between the different assessment methods. The establishment of a standardised assessment methodology, and its use to rank the dormancy of many current varieties will be very useful.

Aims and Approach

Aim: To provide a reliable ranking of the dormancy characteristics of important varieties grown in the UK.

A retrospective analysis of dormancy break and sprouting data from trials carried out will be performed and fitted to a growth model. This model will be refined with the data captured in the proposed project. There will be an investigation of dormancy of varieties in relation to different agronomic and environmental conditions.

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